The number of sole traders, partners and business owners seeking assistance with tax bills has shot up by 41% since last year, according to one independent lender.

With the 31 January tax deadline looming, finance company Syscap said it had £31m of outstanding requests for funding compared with £22m this time last year. It also claimed HM Revenue & Customs was less prepared than it was a year ago to allow businesses to defer tax payments under its Time to Pay scheme.

Syscap chief executive, Philip White, said: "HMRC has been gradually making it harder to access its Time to Pay scheme, which has been a lifeline for cash-strapped businesses over the past two years.

"Shunned by the banks and HMRC, business owners and partners are increasingly looking for alternative sources of funding."

But a spokeswoman for the Revenue dismissed the criticism, pointing out that earlier this month accountancy firm Deloitte had praised the Time to Pay scheme as being "favourable" to businesses.

Time to Pay is a facility offered by HMRC to viable customers who cannot settle their tax bills on the due date, allowing them to make payments over a period they can afford, typically up to a maximum extension of three months.

"HMRC has an outstanding track record in supporting those who are experiencing genuine difficulty paying their tax debts and this approach will continue," a Revenue statement read. "There are no plans to change our Time to Pay policy or approach.

"HMRC will continue to offer a sympathetic ear to businesses – and individuals – in temporary financial difficulty and will continue to offer this service as part of our time to pay arrangements for as long as it is needed. However, there is little HMRC can do for a business whose viability is dependent on not paying the UK taxes to which they are liable, or on special treatment not available to other customers with similar tax affairs."

Syscap also claimed that unprecedented cashflow pressures arising from the new 50p tax rate on incomes in excess of £150,000 and the increase of VAT to 20% were also forcing more small businesses to borrow independently in order to settle their tax bills.

"Many entrepreneurs have to wait months before their clients pay invoices, so budgeting for the VAT increase will hit them particularly hard, making January an exceptionally difficult month," White said.

Commenting on the property and construction sector last week, Lee Manning, a reorganisation services partner at Deloitte, was quoted as saying: "Whilst 2010 administration statistics may have improved, the reality is that many companies are still walking a tightrope. A large number of struggling companies were able to stay afloat because of low interest rates, a lenient approach by lenders, and HMRC's favourable Time to Pay scheme. However, the rapidly changing economic environment will no longer make this sustainable."

Paul Crayston, a spokesman for financial advice charity the Money Advice Trust, warned that in the vast majority of cases borrowing money to pay a tax debt was not a good idea. "Obviously it depends on the circumstances, but for most people it doesn't make sense for the simple reason that your tax bill will actually increase by the rate of interest of your loan," he said.